Abstract

It is implausible for many to see Adorno as a philosopher of the body. While the body conjures up sentiments like desire, lust, passion and jouissance, Theodor Adorno, in contrast, has been described by critics as the 'philosopher of doom,' and his works have been characterized as highbrow, hyper-intellectual, stodgy, and mandarin. ;This dissertation reads Adorno against the grain and shows that hope and desire are present in Adorno's philosophy, no matter how bleak. The central thesis is that Adorno's analysis of reified society emanates from and returns to the body. Adorno's strategic appropriation of Freud and his formulation of repression, the relationship between theory and praxis and the division of mental and physical labor, Adorno's 'elective affinity' to Kafka, and the importance of the 'somatic moment' in Adorno's philosophy of negative dialectics are examples of how the body emerges as the utopian standpoint from which Adorno criticizes the failures of society. The Utopian, by definition, is an evasive and intangible site. This is especially true in Adorno's thought, which adheres to the Judaic prohibition against naming God or paradise , and his philosophical commitment to mediation. The body is for the same reason an elusive terrain. In the Dialectic of Enlightenment, Minima Moralia, and Negative Dialectics, the body appears persistently in heterogeneous fragments, and these are examples of Adorno's attempt to formally evade the homogenizing impetus of identity logic. ;Adorno's cerebral mode of argumentation can be understood as a form of immanent critique. This manner of criticism confronts a particular mode of thinking with its own logic, using the strength of its own arguments against its own conclusions. ;Adorno adopts this mode of critique from Hegel, who claimed that genuine refutation is not achieved 'by defeating the opponent where he is not.' ;Adorno's thoughts on the body emerge, from the experience of the Nazis fetishization of the body, and its commodification by the American culture industry. Adorno's critique of identity can be used as a lens for clarifying some of the problems surrounding the theoretical discourse on the body, which revolve around so-called "identity politics.".